Tagged With "UCLA"

Desiree Felix didn’t make her way to UCLA with the help of helicopter parents who hired tutors, hounded teachers or edited her application essays. Her father is a handyman with a sixth-grade education. Her mother finished high school and helps manage apartments. At Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Felix had to figure out most of the nuts and bolts of preparing for and applying to colleges on her own. She didn’t know anything about Advanced Placement classes until her sophomore year, and...

Emilia Szmyrgala turned into a zombie during midterms and finals — a sleepless, non-showering, isolated study monster focused entirely on acing her exams. The 21-year-old senior at UCLA remembers it being worse in her freshman and sophomore years. When she got into this mode, she might not eat anything all day, except for some Twizzlers. Fears of failure crept in, and life became overwhelming. “As I got older, I realized I have to take care of myself,” Szmyrgala said. “Even in those finals...

Emilia Szmyrgala turned into a zombie during midterms and finals — a sleepless, non-showering, isolated study monster focused entirely on acing her exams. The 21-year-old senior at UCLA remembers it being worse in her freshman and sophomore years. When she got into this mode, she might not eat anything all day, except for some Twizzlers. Fears of failure crept in, and life became overwhelming. “As I got older, I realized I have to take care of myself,” Szmyrgala said. “Even in those finals...